第 58 节
作者:恐龙王      更新:2021-03-08 19:22      字数:9322
  and on the shortest notice you may revolve in a whirlpool of red
  shirts; shaggy beards; wild heads of hair; bare tattooed arms;
  Britannia's daughters; malice; mud; maundering; and madness。  Down
  by the Docks; scraping fiddles go in the public…houses all day
  long; and; shrill above their din and all the din; rises the
  screeching of innumerable parrots brought from foreign parts; who
  appear to be very much astonished by what they find on these native
  shores of ours。  Possibly the parrots don't know; possibly they do;
  that Down by the Docks is the road to the Pacific Ocean; with its
  lovely islands; where the savage girls plait flowers; and the
  savage boys carve cocoa…nut shells; and the grim blind idols muse
  in their shady groves to exactly the same purpose as the priests
  and chiefs。  And possibly the parrots don't know; possibly they do;
  that the noble savage is a wearisome impostor wherever he is; and
  has five hundred thousand volumes of indifferent rhyme; and no
  reason; to answer for。
  Shadwell church!  Pleasant whispers of there being a fresher air
  down the river than down by the Docks; go pursuing one another;
  playfully; in and out of the openings in its spire。  Gigantic in
  the basin just beyond the church; looms my Emigrant Ship:  her
  name; the Amazon。  Her figure…head is not disfigured as those
  beauteous founders of the race of strong…minded women are fabled to
  have been; for the convenience of drawing the bow; but I sympathise
  with the carver:
  A flattering carver who made it his care
  To carve busts as they ought to be … not as they were。
  My Emigrant Ship lies broadside…on to the wharf。  Two great
  gangways made of spars and planks connect her with the wharf; and
  up and down these gangways; perpetually crowding to and fro and in
  and out; like ants; are the Emigrants who are going to sail in my
  Emigrant Ship。  Some with cabbages; some with loaves of bread; some
  with cheese and butter; some with milk and beer; some with boxes;
  beds; and bundles; some with babies … nearly all with children …
  nearly all with bran…new tin cans for their daily allowance of
  water; uncomfortably suggestive of a tin flavour in the drink。  To
  and fro; up and down; aboard and ashore; swarming here and there
  and everywhere; my Emigrants。  And still as the Dock…Gate swings
  upon its hinges; cabs appear; and carts appear; and vans appear;
  bringing more of my Emigrants; with more cabbages; more loaves;
  more cheese and butter; more milk and beer; more boxes; beds; and
  bundles; more tin cans; and on those shipping investments
  accumulated compound interest of children。
  I go aboard my Emigrant Ship。  I go first to the great cabin; and
  find it in the usual condition of a Cabin at that pass。  Perspiring
  landsmen; with loose papers; and with pens and inkstands; pervade
  it; and the general appearance of things is as if the late Mr。
  Amazon's funeral had just come home from the cemetery; and the
  disconsolate Mrs。 Amazon's trustees found the affairs in great
  disorder; and were looking high and low for the will。  I go out on
  the poop…deck; for air; and surveying the emigrants on the deck
  below (indeed they are crowded all about me; up there too); find
  more pens and inkstands in action; and more papers; and
  interminable complication respecting accounts with individuals for
  tin cans and what not。  But nobody is in an ill…temper; nobody is
  the worse for drink; nobody swears an oath or uses a coarse word;
  nobody appears depressed; nobody is weeping; and down upon the deck
  in every corner where it is possible to find a few square feet to
  kneel; crouch; or lie in; people; in every unsuitable attitude for
  writing; are writing letters。
  Now; I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June。  And these
  people are so strikingly different from all other people in like
  circumstances whom I have ever seen; that I wonder aloud; 'What
  WOULD a stranger suppose these emigrants to be!'
  The vigilant; bright face of the weather…browned captain of the
  Amazon is at my shoulder; and he says; 'What; indeed!  The most of
  these came aboard yesterday evening。  They came from various parts
  of England in small parties that had never seen one another before。
  Yet they had not been a couple of hours on board; when they
  established their own police; made their own regulations; and set
  their own watches at all the hatchways。  Before nine o'clock; the
  ship was as orderly and as quiet as a man…of…war。'
  I looked about me again; and saw the letter…writing going on with
  the most curious composure。  Perfectly abstracted in the midst of
  the crowd; while great casks were swinging aloft; and being lowered
  into the hold; while hot agents were hurrying up and down;
  adjusting the interminable accounts; while two hundred strangers
  were searching everywhere for two hundred other strangers; and were
  asking questions about them of two hundred more; while the children
  played up and down all the steps; and in and out among all the
  people's legs; and were beheld; to the general dismay; toppling
  over all the dangerous places; the letter…writers wrote on calmly。
  On the starboard side of the ship; a grizzled man dictated a long
  letter to another grizzled man in an immense fur cap:  which letter
  was of so profound a quality; that it became necessary for the
  amanuensis at intervals to take off his fur cap in both his hands;
  for the ventilation of his brain; and stare at him who dictated; as
  a man of many mysteries who was worth looking at。  On the lar…board
  side; a woman had covered a belaying…pin with a white cloth to make
  a neat desk of it; and was sitting on a little box; writing with
  the deliberation of a bookkeeper。  Down; upon her breast on the
  planks of the deck at this woman's feet; with her head diving in
  under a beam of the bulwarks on that side; as an eligible place of
  refuge for her sheet of paper; a neat and pretty girl wrote for a
  good hour (she fainted at last); only rising to the surface
  occasionally for a dip of ink。  Alongside the boat; close to me on
  the poop…deck; another girl; a fresh; well…grown country girl; was
  writing another letter on the bare deck。  Later in the day; when
  this self…same boat was filled with a choir who sang glees and
  catches for a long time; one of the singers; a girl; sang her part
  mechanically all the while; and wrote a letter in the bottom of the
  boat while doing so。
  'A stranger would be puzzled to guess the right name for these
  people; Mr。 Uncommercial;' says the captain。
  'Indeed he would。'
  'If you hadn't known; could you ever have supposed … ?'
  'How could I!  I should have said they were in their degree; the
  pick and flower of England。'
  'So should I;' says the captain。
  'How many are they?'
  'Eight hundred in round numbers。'
  I went between…decks; where the families with children swarmed in
  the dark; where unavoidable confusion had been caused by the last
  arrivals; and where the confusion was increased by the little
  preparations for dinner that were going on in each group。  A few
  women here and there; had got lost; and were laughing at it; and
  asking their way to their own people; or out on deck again。  A few
  of the poor children were crying; but otherwise the universal
  cheerfulness was amazing。  'We shall shake down by to…morrow。'  'We
  shall come all right in a day or so。'  'We shall have more light at
  sea。'  Such phrases I heard everywhere; as I groped my way among
  chests and barrels and beams and unstowed cargo and ring…bolts and
  Emigrants; down to the lower…deck; and thence up to the light of
  day again; and to my former station。
  Surely; an extraordinary people in their power of self…abstraction!
  All the former letter…writers were still writing calmly; and many
  more letter…writers had broken out in my absence。  A boy with a bag
  of books in his hand and a slate under his arm; emerged from below;
  concentrated himself in my neighbourhood (espying a convenient
  skylight for his purpose); and went to work at a sum as if he were
  stone deaf。  A father and mother and several young children; on the
  main deck below me; had formed a family circle close to the foot of
  the crowded restless gangway; where the children made a nest for
  themselves in a coil of rope; and the father and mother; she
  suckling the youngest; discussed family affairs as peaceably as if
  they were in perfect retirement。  I think the most noticeable
  characteristic in the eight hundred as a mass; was their exemption
  from hurry。
  Eight hundred what?  'Geese; villain?'  EIGHT HUNDRED MORMONS。  I;
  Uncommercial Traveller for the firm of Human Interest Brothers; had
  come aboard this Emigrant Ship to see what Eight hundred Latter…day
  Saints were like; and I found them (to the rout and overthrow of
  all my expectations) like what I now describe with scrupulous
  exactness。
  The Mormon Agent who had been active in getting them together; and
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